


Top 5 Favorite Scenes in SPN S1

by yourlibrarian



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Episode: s01e16 Shadow, Episode: s01e18 Something Wicked, Episode: s01e20 Dead Man's Blood, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 23:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6774433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at scenes both well written and well acted which provided key moments in S1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Top 5 Favorite Scenes in SPN S1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted December 13, 2007

One thing I came across today that I quite enjoyed was this picspam of ["100 Reasons I Adore Supernatural."](http://a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com/111435.html) It made me decide to do a list of my Top 5 Favorite Scenes in SPN S1.

5\. Sam's exposition scene in the Pilot as he and Dean head out to the Impala. I remember in the episode commentary they were discussing how much that scene had to be rewritten and how clunky it was in terms of getting that information out there. However, I always thought it worked quite well. Part of it may simply be the way the scene is shot, with movement, and the shadows on the characters adding to that feeling of secretiveness, both of their discussion and their lives. Yet the dialogue too, both establishes Sam and Dean's distance from one another and says some things about their feelings for their parents. To me it was one of the pivotal scenes in the pilot and was actually less clunky than other scenes in that episode.

4\. Dean's confession to Sam in Something Wicked. The fading of young Dean's face into JA's, his regret and guilt, Sam's understanding (later expressed in dialogue but apparent here nonetheless) of why Dean obeys John without question, and the final frame of Dean's strained, grieved face are all wonderfully done. It's a key insight into the family dynamics but it's also beautifully acted.

3\. The moment in Shadow when Dean and John see one another in the motel room. We know so little about John, and Dean and Sam's views of him are (on the surface) so different, that it's one of the few indications we get of how deep his feelings run for these abandoned sons. I've never been satisfied in how John's story spins out in S1, but the way Dean moves to his father with such certainty and open feeling speaks volumes. No matter what they say and do to one another later, and no matter how secretive John was for whatever reason, the positive side of their relationship is incredibly clear here. The reconciliation between Sam and John is also very satisfying but rather less revealing.

2\. John and Sam's bonding moment in Dead Man's Blood. I loved that whole scene, starting with Sam's restlessness at Dean's absence. I daresay Dean was just as concerned about leaving Sam and John alone together, as Sam appears to be about Dean being gone so long. One of the things that's so critical about this episode is that it becomes so apparent who Sam's primary allegiance is to. It isn't just that he's at odds with John, it's that he's bonded with Dean. I really think that the overall story arc in SPN has been Sam's coming of age (and less directly, Dean's). 

Even though when we meet Sam it's as an adult, his time at college has been a period of withdrawal. There's a certain breaking out of the womb that occurs in the pilot. We know next to nothing about Sam's time at Stanford (and I suspect never will), but from what he and Dean both say it's clear that it was as much a way for Sam to avoid things in his life as to follow a particular direction. Kind of interesting that both Sam and Dean had 4 years of normalcy in their life –- Dean before the fire, and Sam in the 6 months before the fire and the 3+ years he had at Stanford. Just like for Dean though, shelter is embodied in the feminine and the warmth of a female-centered home environment. For both Sam and Dean that shelter is stripped away in the same way. Whether intentionally or not, the fact that the fires that drive the men out occur in Sam's bedroom, a place of rest and comfort inhabited by or created by a woman, seems to give even more emphasis to this idea of the feminine cocoon. To me the implication is that Sam has been in a form of childhood all along, and it is only now as he strives to find his place in the world, that he's really becoming an adult.

So it's interesting that this conversation with John, their one real bonding moment in the whole series, revolves around John's desire to provide a financial cocoon for his sons. He wanted to give them the future that, no doubt, Mary wanted them to have, but also one where they'd presumably be safe and fulfilled. It's a wonderful shared joke that the funds ended up going for ammo instead, but also rather telling. That ammo, that training that John provided, was to keep his sons alive. Being fulfilled, having a future they could control, was something that became of very secondary importance. Mary's death wasn't just the death of John's personal dreams, but also of his ability to extend that cocoon into his sons' future. 

That Sam is now rejecting even the minimal shelter that his father can still provide (a respite from decision-making, from direct danger, from watchfulness) so soon after joining him again seems all about his realization that he doesn't actually need his father to the degree he thought he did. He's not ready to be alone in this life -- he doesn't even consider it (as we discover in Shadows). But he is ready to stand apart from John on his own turf. 

1\. The Winchester face-off in Dead Man's Blood. While we may learn less from this scene about any of the characters than we did in the other four scenes I've chosen, there's still some new things revealed that we didn't know. They start with something we've been told, and then unfurl into something more. First, there is Dean's acceptance of John's role –- and his own lack of power with either of the other two –- and at the same time we see Dean literally coming between John and Sam. He's no doubt well aware of where he fits in between the others. I think he is less aware of how deeply committed both are to him, the very opposite of what the YED later tells him. 

I don't know that we learn too much about John except that he is not a fly-off-the-handle guy, or at least has learned not to be over time. Despite the fact that Sam nearly caused an accident, is being extremely confrontational, is interfering with a critical hunt (we'll all understand the vital importance of the Colt in a bit), and is challenging the foundation of their relationship, John seems to be in far better control of his temper than his son. Sam, on the other hand, seems about 2 seconds away from slugging him and it's one of the few times we see him really utilizing his height to intimidate. 

It's an interesting scene to me because over the season we've become quite used to seeing Dean relish violence in the hunt, but at the same time he's more coolly efficient when killing than angry. Apparently when Sam lets loose though, you'd better watch out. It strikes me that what Dean really enjoys isn't the actual killing, it's the action of it, and the sense of competence he gets from completing his job successfully. Perhaps subconsciously, it's also the knowledge that John would be pleased. It seems likely that John didn't lavish praise on his sons, but it's also obvious that Dean was keenly aware of when his father was pleased or displeased with him. 

Sam, however, is much less concerned with what John thinks. He will, I think, always do things for himself first. When he restrains himself, it's not to keep the peace it's because he thinks it's the thing to do in the situation. And what he clearly thinks is needed in this case is to make John listen, no matter what that costs. Of course, it's wonderfully apropos that Sam insists on being treated like an adult by throwing what amounts to a hissy fit at being left out of the loop, and then bangs up his brother's ego in the process of trying to justify his position. If you weren't afraid of there being blood spilled at any moment it would be downright funny. 

Instead there's great tension in that scene, starting with Dean's muttered aside "Aw, here we go." I like that line so much because it's clear that this isn't the first time this has happened, not just that there is tension and anger as he alluded to in an earlier scene ("It's starting again") but the possibility of a brawl. It's clear that Dean hates it but is also, perhaps, a little afraid. And it made me speculate that surely Sam is more in control of his temper now than he ever was as a child or a teenager. Perhaps one of the reasons Dean responds so firmly to Sam's mysterious mental abilities despite his unease is because Sam has always been a bit dangerous, and Dean has always had to deal with it. I've always been struck by the way Dean was able to brush off Sam's attack on him in Asylum. Sure, he knew Sam wasn't himself, but no one's completely themselves when consumed with rage. And Dean was wounded by Sam's hatred, but he wasn't particularly surprised by the lengths to which Sam would go. Whether it's just the way JP plays it, or whether it's actually supposed to be part of the character, I always get the sense that there's this edge of recklessness from Sam that isn't there with Dean. Dean can be impatient or thoughtless, or just willing to take risks with himself. Yet he never does anything as uncalculated or foolhardy as Sam attempts in Salvation. I love the implications of that as we head through S3. 

Runners-up: Dean and Sam's motel room conversation in Shadows about what they'll do once the YED is dead; the ending cabin scene in Nightmares; Sam and Dean's reconciling phone call in Scarecrow; the hospital scene in Faith (mostly for the acting done by both); Dean's reaction to the being driven over in Route 666 (again, acting); Dean and Sam's conversation about Sam moving on in Provenance; the one and only scene we get of Pastor Jim in Salvation (who so many wonderful fanfics have developed as a character); and more that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Although this doesn't fall into the Top 5 scenes, I was pretty amused when re-watching Route 666 to note that Sam and Dean are walking (in suits) next to a marina as they discuss the Flying Dutchman, and in Red Skies they are walking, in suits next to a marina discussing _the Flying Dutchman again_. I had to wonder if this was deliberate or just a bizarre coincidence. If you want to stretch it a little further, at the end of the 666 scene they reach the car and Sam discovers that Dean lost Cassie. In Red Skies Dean and Sam end the conversation by discovering the loss of the Metallicar (and enter Bela). Hmm.


End file.
